← Marató d'Empúries·Day trip

Figueres: Inside Dalí's Theatre-Museum

The theatre Salvador Dalí rebuilt as a museum of his own work and where he is buried, in his home town, 45 minutes by bus from the Empúries finish.

DurationDay trip
TransitMoventis bus line 10, about 45 minutes from L'Escala
DepartsL'Escala

After the Marató d'Empúries: Figueres

The Route: L'Escala → Figueres → L'Escala Logistics: Moventis bus line 10, about 45 minutes each way. Flat walking in the town centre. Marathon Month: April Duration: Day trip

L'Escala ──(about 45 mins Moventis line 10)──> Figueres ──(about 45 mins)──> L'Escala

The Marató d'Empúries is run on the coast of the Alt Empordà, and the capital of the district is Figueres, 20 km inland, where Salvador Dalí was born in 1904. In the 1960s and 1970s he rebuilt the town's burnt-out municipal theatre as a museum of his work, and it is now one of the most visited museums in Spain.

April in Figueres is mild, usually in the high teens, and the tramuntana wind blows hard down the Empordà plain some days. The Easter holidays bring crowds to the museum. The important detail for runners: in April the Dalí Theatre-Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:30 to 18:00, and closed on Mondays. The day after a Sunday race is the wrong day. Go on the Saturday before, or the Tuesday after.

Moventis buses on line 10 run between L'Escala and Figueres through the day, taking about 45 minutes. Check the timetable before travelling; services are fewer at weekends. The bus station in Figueres is next to the railway station, about 10 minutes' walk from the museum on level streets.

The Theatre-Museum

The building announces itself from a distance: a red wall topped with giant eggs and studded with bread rolls, and a glass dome where the theatre's stage once was. Inside, Dalí designed the whole place as a single work. The courtyard, the old stalls, holds the Rainy Taxi, a car that rains on its passengers. The Mae West Room turns a set of furnishings into a face when seen from the right spot. Dalí is buried in a crypt beneath the stage.

Tickets are timed and should be bought online in advance; queues at the door can be long, especially at Easter. The museum is on several floors with stairs; there is a lift, but moving through the rooms involves a fair amount of standing. Allow about two hours. The same ticket usually covers the Dalí Jewels exhibition next door.

The rest of the town

The Rambla, Figueres's tree-lined main street, is flat and lined with cafés, and a short walk from the museum. On the hill above the town, the Castell de Sant Ferran is one of the largest eighteenth-century fortresses in Europe, but the walk up is long and the site is huge. It can wait.

Lunch and the return

The streets around the Rambla and the museum have plenty of restaurants serving Empordà food: rice dishes, meat grilled over wood and, in spring, local vegetables. Buses back to L'Escala run until the evening; confirm the last one before lunch.